Disclaimer: The characters and universe of Star Trek: DS9 do not belong to me. I am using them without the permission of their owner. I am in no way gaining profit by writing this story.

Summery: The life of Julian Bashir from the 'Through the Looking Glass' episode. Rated Mature for violence and sexual content. Scenes not explicit. Some Homosexuality involved.

When I was born the occasion was not joyous. My addition to the family was not welcome, for it meant only that my parent's had another person to clothe, another split in their rations. I figured that they had tried to terminate the pregnancy, but who were the Klingon's to turn down another slave? My parent's had no other children anyway, so there was no violation of the Terrain Regulation Treaty.

I was a clumsy child, slow to understand and learn. While most children knew how to speak at three, I could barely be understood at four. My parent's hated it, having to spare precious work time to care for a stupid child. They had to feed me, clothe me, teach me, and care for me, and I could not even tend to the household chores that my peers had been doing for a year. They finally gave up trying to teach me themselves, and sacrificed their three room house to hire a qualified tutor. He spent two weeks with me, and then declared that he couldn't help a boy with severe dyslexia. I didn't know what that meant then, but I do now. People with the condition I had used to be sent to Sanctuaries and my Father had taken to calling me 'Dim' from then on.

I grew up in a slave town on a Klingon ruled planet. We were left alone, for the most part, to scrap off the land and await the picking of the next batch of slaves. We were poor, everyone was, and the town manufactured goods to keep from going under. I remember before my mother gave up teaching me, how she'd sit for hours when it was her shift to watch me and try to get me to learn how to sew. I had a good memory, have always had a good memory. It's one of the things I am proud of as my accomplishment. Maybe it was the dyslexia, but memory did not equal understanding when I was young. If it had, I would have been the smartest person in that town. If only, if only…

When I was seven a man came to the door. He was going through town and needed a place to stay. Someone had recommended my family to put him up for a couple of nights. The look on my Father's face when he heard that- we'd put up the occasional traveler when we had still had the three room house, and always for money. Now our house was two roomed, not suitable for guests, and this stranger looked to barely be able to feed himself, let alone pay rent.

Room was quickly made, however, when the man had seen my Father's look, and hastened to sketch a figure for a three night stay including meals. My Mother spent the whole night with a smile on her face. I hadn't seen her smile that much since I learned to say 'Mum' instead of 'Num.' I hadn't noticed then, but looking back through the memories now the stranger had watched me closely those first two days. Saw my parents struggle with care and work; saw how my mother had to chase after me with a needle in her teeth, half patched up pants over her shoulder. And then- finally -on the third day, he said something. It was obviously not what my parent's were expecting.

He said he knew a treatment that could help me; that they wouldn't have to pay anything for it. He warned them that the treatment was experimental and illegal, and that I would never be able to come back here, or they would be arrested. My parent's thought about it for all of ten minutes, and then handed me right over.

That marked one of the biggest changes in my life. The life of Jules Banning.

Tell me what you think. I have the first tree chapter's written, but I want your opinion. It's strange, I know. Work with me here.

TS